Media News

Morning Media Newsfeed 10.17.12

Candy Crowley: 'I Expected Them to Come at me When I Would Try to Rein Them in' (TVNewser) Tuesday night's Town Hall battle was more pitched and pointed than the first, as the two men running for president paced the stage answering questions from undecided voters, and follow-ups from moderator Candy Crowley. After both the Obama and Romney campaigns expressed concern about Crowley's role, the CNN anchor says, "I expected them to come at me when I would try to rein them in," adding, "I didn't take it personally." WSJ / Election 2012 The two men seeking the White House engaged in what was surely the most lively and least decorous debate ever seen in an American presidential campaign Tuesday night. LA Times President Obama's performance in Tuesday's second presidential debate was dramatically better than his outing in the first one earlier this month. Unfortunately for Democrats, Obama's Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, didn't crumble in the face of the newly energized and forceful president. NYT President Obama, who concluded that he was "too polite" in his first debate with Romney, made sure no one would say that after their second. He interrupted, he scolded, he filibustered, he shook his head. HuffPost If commentators weren't saying Obama won the debate, they were calling it a draw -- an improvement over Obama's clear loss at the debate in Denver. Politico NBC News's David Gregory added that Romney was "strong, too," particularly on "wrapping the economic troubles of the last four years around the president's neck." But as many reporters and pundits said, Romney "stumbled on this issue of Libya, saying that the president didn't call it an act of it terror immediately." The Washington Post / Erik Wemple That falsehood prompted an intervention -- prohibited by official debate rules! -- by Crowley, the moderator: "It -- he did in fact, sir." Time / The Page Romney's errors on tone and Libya make him the debate loser, but his economic arguments and physical challenge to the incumbent might play better in the country than in the media filing center. AFP As Obama and Romney traded barbs in their cantankerous second presidential debate, even harsher volleys were being hurled online. AL.com / Mark Heim In what is quickly becoming a debate tradition, social media grabs hold of a specific point in a presidential or vice presidential debate and won't let go. In the first presidential debate it was Big Bird. In the vice presidential debate it was the Twitter handle @LaughingJoe. On Tuesday night, it was Romney's answer to gender pay inequality. Known now as simply "binders of women."

More Than 12.6 Million People Watched Space Jump Live on TV and Online (TVNewser) A total of 4.2 million people watched daredevil Felix Baumgartner jump from space on Discovery Channel Sunday afternoon according to data from Nielsen, with an astonishing 8 million people watching the jump live on YouTube (shattering a record for the site). The Wrap According to Red Bull -- the jump was part of the Red Bull Stratos Mission, which was created by Baumgartner and the energy drink giant -- Baumgartner's jump received 52 million YouTube views through the course of the event, with 8 million concurrent visitors checking it out at its peak. The Washington Post / The Style Blog As soon as Baumgartner landed safely from his 24-mile jump from the Earth's stratosphere, the Internet got to work doing what it does best: parsing out every bit of the historic event for comedy. AllFacebook Red Bull did not see a direct sugar rush in terms of likes for its Facebook page as a result of its Red Bull Stratos project, which featured daredevil Baumgartner successfully jumping to Earth from the stratosphere, but the like total for Baumgartner's Facebook page shot into the stratosphere, and the Red Bull Stratos Facebook page saw robust growth, as well, according to sister site AllFacebook Stats.

iPad Mini Coming on Tuesday? (AppNewser) Apple will host another press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 23, leading many to speculate that we will finally see the iPad Mini after months of rumors. ABC News / Tech This Out The invitation says, "We've got a little more to show you." Of course, "little" is the keyword. No other information is offered, other than driving directions. LA Times Rumors have swirled for months that Apple was designing a competitor to Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire and the Google Nexus 7, smaller and cheaper devices that appeal to on-the-go consumers who don't want to shell out for the pricey iPad. Gizmodo What else has the rumor mill predicted for next week? Here's the rundown: A 7.85-inch, not-quite-retina display powered by an A5 processor and 512MB of RAM, priced starting anywhere from $250 to $350, available in a week or two. It will probably come in both Wi-Fi and 3G versions, and will look like, well, a smaller iPad.

Rupert Murdoch Defeats Rebel Shareholders at News Corp. Meeting (HuffPost / AP) News Corp. managed to avoid rowdy protests at its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday, but that didn't stop stockholders from voicing complaints about the grip on the company held by founder and CEO Rupert Murdoch and his family. Despite the opposition, the News Corp. board said three shareholder proposals to dilute the Murdochs' control were defeated by a majority of voting shares. NYT / Media Decoder At the meeting, held at the Fox studio lot in Los Angeles, all of the company's 14 proposed board members were elected. The company also defeated efforts to eliminate News Corp.'s dual-stock structure that ensures Murdoch family control and to require that its chairman be independent. Murdoch, 81, is both chairman and chief executive of the $59 billion media and entertainment conglomerate. LA Times / Company Town During the meeting, Julie Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing at Christian Brothers Investment Services, which owns shares of the company's stock, presented her case to approve the reforms. "These reforms are absolutely necessary at News Corp.," Tanner said. "The failure of internal controls has had real and lasting repercussions, resulting in shuttering a newspaper, criminal investigations... and the tarnishing of the company's reputation."

LinkedIn Unveils New Profiles, Analytics (SocialTimes) Continuing its efforts to simplify its user interface and host more content, LinkedIn unveiled a new user profile page design on Tuesday. Among the new features are in-line profile editing and status updates and a larger profile picture. The new profile puts front and center those parts that are most likely to change regularly, including status and activity in groups to which the member belongs. Users also see more insight on how their LinkedIn network divides by company, industry and education. Wired / Gadget Lab The release is part of LinkedIn's continued effort toward simplification, what the company calls Project Katy. Most recently, the company announced a new "follow" feature and blogging platform. ZDNet To emphasize the importance of profile pages, LinkedIn reps cited that 175,000 new profiles are created each day with an approximate total of 25 million profile views also every day.

Can Microsoft's $499 Surface Tablet Lure You Away from iPad? (The Seattle Times) Is a Microsoft Surface tablet priced at $499 good enough to entice you away from that Apple iPad you might be considering? That's the question Microsoft faces now that it has announced the prices of Surface with Windows RT, the company's first branded tablets, launching Oct. 26. CNET / Crave The team behind the secretive product, which came as a surprise to the tech press, also went on Reddit for a Q&A session. Among the interesting tidbits revealed in the online chat: The tradeoffs that resulted in certain features being omitted from the tablet, such as 3G or LTE connectivity and near-field communication (NFC) support. ABC News / Tech This Out Microsoft is marketing the Surface and other still-to-come Windows 8 devices as more than just tablets -- they are computers. They are the Windows experience completely "reimagined."

Margaret Sullivan on Being New York Times' Public Editor: 'I Always Find Something That Seems Compelling' (FishbowlNY) We're fans of Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor. Since taking over for Arthur Brisbane, she has been making her voice heard. That's a good thing, even if people sometimes disagree with what she says. Poynter A little over a month into her job, Margaret Sullivan has been transforming the traditional role of the New York Times public editor -- by blogging almost every weekday and using social media to add a mix of voices and viewpoints to her posts. Her new role, she says, has reminded her how much she enjoys writing on a regular basis and responding to the news of the day.

Uber Shuts Down Yellow Cab Service in New York (SocialTimes) The mobile cab-hailing company Uber announced Tuesday that it has shut down its yellow cab service in New York, but will keep its town car service running. NYT Uber, whose technology helps drivers and would-be passengers find one another, began operating the service last month in more than 100 taxis amid questions about whether the app violated the city's guidelines, which prohibit prearranged rides in yellow taxis.

10 Ways to Syndicate Your Online Writing (GalleyCat) If you spend hours working on a blog post, you want to find as many readers as you can for that piece of online writing. On Tuesday's edition of the Morning Media Menu, SocialTimes editor Devon Glenn introduced a Launch Grow Joy infographic with 30 tools for sharing your online writing.

Chris Matthews, Bill O'Reilly on Katie(TVNewser) FNC's Bill O'Reilly will make his first appearance on Katie Couric's show Wednesday. O'Reilly and Couric will recap Tuesday night's debate, talk about the state of the campaign and O'Reilly will discuss his latest book, Killing Kennedy -- a closer look at the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Hilary Mantel: Double Man Booker Winner Profiled (BBC News) Hilary Mantel has become the first woman and the first living British author to win the Man Booker prize twice. The victory also makes the 60-year-old -- only the third double winner of the prestigious literary accolade -- the first person to win for a direct sequel.

You Feeling OK? Study Shows Writers Prone to Mental Illness (FishbowlLA) A large scale study by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has found a link between creative professions and mental illness. Writers in particular are more likely to suffer from psychiatric issues including clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, and substance abuse. We're also nearly twice as likely as the general populace to commit suicide!

Can Your Phone Predict Your Vote? (Adweek) With the rise of mobile devices to stay caught up on the news and candidates starting to use them for advertising and fundraising, it's no wonder people are calling this the first Mobile Election. Engine Yard, a cloud computing company, put together this nifty infographic that takes a look at such questions as: Will Android states or Apple states decide the election? Who's more likely to cast their vote via mobile, if and when that day comes to pass? What do your musical preferences say about how you'll vote?